More than 2,000 kangaroos have been killed inAustraliain a controversial cull which prompted a mock funeral by animal rights campaigners.

The culling programme around the capital Canberra was ordered by the local Australian Capital Territory government to limit the number of kangaroos in eight sensitive national parklands.

The programme has been conducted annually for the past six years but has led to international protests, including condemnation by Sir Paul McCartney.

ACT Animal Liberation took legal action to block the cull but it was deemed lawful by a territory tribunal.

However, the legal action delayed the cull, which led to 1,519 eastern grey kangaroos being shot – almost 100 short of the original target. A further 514 pouched young kangaroos were considered too small to survive and were also killed.

Daniel Iglesias, from the territory's park and conservation authority, said the cull was conducted humanely.

"Although the legal challenge significantly reduced our operating window and we experienced bad weather in the first few weeks which restricted operations, we were very close to reaching the quota of 1,606 kangaroos," he said.

"The cull was undertaken humanely in accordance with a strict code of practice."

Meat from 10 per cent of the culled kangaroos was used to produce baits for programmes to control wild dogs and foxes.

ACT Animal Liberation sought to disrupt the cull by moving between the night-time shootings and the animals.

"It is sad that we can't stop the shooting the way that we would like to but at the same time, for us going onto the reserves and trying to stop the shooting is making a statement to the government that they're not killing numbers in a formula or objects on a screen."

The group held a memorial for the dead kangaroos outside the territory's parliament building.